The power of pomegranates

Everyone is getting pomegranate syrup for Christmas this year, this settles it. I guess I better find some recipes that use pomegranate syrup to wrap with it.

Pomegranates have been hailed as a “superfood” that could help protect against inflammation and cancer. New research shows this Middle Eastern fruit also contains powerful substances called ellagitannins that may slow the aging process, reports Science​Daily​.com. Throughout our lives, cells recycle worn-out mitochondria—the tiny powerhouses that provide them with energy. This process, known as mitophagy, slows down and malfunctions over time, resulting in weaker muscles and age-related frailty. In a study on worms and mice, scientists found that when consumed and broken down by gut bacteria, ellagitannins produce a compound called urolithin A that helps restore this mitochondrial clean-up process in cells where it has become inactive, significantly improving muscle strength and endurance. The worms’ life span also increased, by 45 percent. “It’s a completely natural substance, and its effect is powerful and measurable,” says the study’s co-author, Patrick Aebischer. Researchers caution that it’s not been determined that ellagitannins affect people in the same way. Human trials are currently underway.

Taken from the July 29th edition of the Week Magazine.

Healthy heart, sharp mind

Also taken from the April 8th Week Magazine.

We are toast...

Americans are constantly advised to lead “heart healthy” lives, and for good reason: Heart disease remains the leading cause of death in the U.S. But cardiovascular health is also a boon to the brain, new research reveals. The study examined the habits and lifestyles of more than 1,000 people who were an average age of 72. Specifically, they assessed how many of the American Heart Association’s goals the participants achieved—keeping physically active; maintaining a healthy weight and eating regimen; not smoking; and keeping blood pressure, cholesterol, and blood sugar levels under control. The participants also completed cognitive tests when the study began and again six years later. As it turned out, people who more closely adhered to a heart-healthy lifestyle showed fewer signs of age-related mental decline, reports TechTimes.com. University of Miami neurologist Hannah Gardener, who led the study, suggests more research is needed to pinpoint the age ranges during which cardiovascular-friendly behaviors “may influence cognitive performance and mitigate decline.”

History Lessons - thoughts on the history of the Uighurs

I've been reading Peter Frankopan's new book entitled 'The Silk Roads: a new history of the world' and it had gotten me thinking a lot.  (I had written a previous post, but am still struggling with this Blogspot App, and I deleted it!)

Anyway, the current chapter is called 'The Road to Hell' and in it the reader is introduced to Genghis Khan. Mr. Frankopan's talks about the importance of the Uighurs. That their culture was so highly developed that Genghis Khan married one of his daughters to the Uighur ruler so that he might gain access to the Uighur scribes and bureaucrats. 

The only reason I bring this up is because the Uighurs have been in the news recently because they are being crushed by the Chinese. 

Do you think that the world would be a better place if we Americans (Westerners in general) understood the glorious history of other cultures? This 'tribe', or ethnic group, was highly organized and efficient, such that they were sought after, not crushed in the 12th century. Now we know nothing of them, other than being oppressed Muslims in China. (Wait, or is it just me who knows nothing about them?)

It's humbling to think about all the knowledge that is out there but is unavailable to me because I don't speak the language. Clearly our scholars are getting better at realizing and correcting for this deficiency...

I guess I am horribly naive. Glad somebody is doing the research and understanding the ebbs and flows of nations and empires. 

Americans’ unhealthy habits

Taken from the Week Magazine, April 8th edition.

Noce of these lifestyles take their toll until most people have had children, so all this does is make unhealthy babies... At least that is what is coming to mind for me. I wonder what this means for future generations and genealogy.

Pretty scary that we know what we should do, but so hard to do it.

To remain healthy, doctors say, you have to eat well, exercise regularly, avoid smoking, and keep body fat in check. But new research shows that only 2.7 percent of Americans are actually adhering to all four healthy habits. Researchers came to that surprisingly glum conclusion after examining national survey data on more than 5,000 people, compiled by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Only 47 percent got 150 minutes a week of moderate to vigorous exercise, only 38 percent had healthy diets, and only 10 percent had proper body-fat levels. Only 16 percent met three of the four criteria. “This is sort of mind boggling, to have so few people maintaining what we would consider a healthy lifestyle,” study author Ellen Smit of Oregon State University tells ScienceDaily.com. “There’s clearly a lot of room for improvement.”

The surprising benefits of thumb sucking

Just another example of what we have done to ourselves by being too clean. When I was a child, it was never a discussion about germs - it was a discussion about giving yourself buck teeth. Is that an old wives' tale?

Kids are often urged to stop biting their nails or sucking their thumbs because their fingers are teeming with germs. But new research suggests these “bad” habits could actually reduce children’s risk of developing allergies, reports The Washington Post. The findings support the “hygiene hypothesis” of allergies, which contends that exposure to microbes early in life educates and strengthens the immune system; when kids aren’t exposed to enough germs, that “priming” process doesn’t occur and their immune systems overreact to new substances. Researchers in New Zealand put this theory to the test by monitoring the oral habits of more than 1,000 ­children from birth to adulthood and conducting skin-prick tests to identify those who suffered from allergies. They found that 49 percent of those who weren’t thumb-suckers or nail-biters as kids eventually developed allergies to things like pets, grass, and dust mites. But allergies were found in only 31 percent of those who both bit their fingernails and sucked their thumbs when they were younger, and in 38 percent of those who did one or the other. The study’s author, Malcolm Sears, says that doesn’t mean parents should encourage kids to bite

Taken from the July 29th edition of the Week Magazine.

Averting a post-antibiotic apocalypse

An antibiotic-resistant staph bacteria

700,000 people a year! Shocking!

I wish we would stop using antibiotics in farm animals as a way to fatten the animals and as a prophylactic.

I also wish I could connect to the video put out by Harvard where you can see bacteria create a mutant that can overcome the antibiotics almost immediately. It's amazing to watch. You can see it here.

Antibiotic-resistant bacteria could become a bigger killer than cancer by 2050, unless drastic action is taken to curb the excessive use of existing drugs and spur the development of new ones. That’s the stark conclusion of a major two-year review of antimicrobial resistance. The dwindling arsenal of effective antibiotics could make minor infections and routine surgeries like C-sections life-threatening. The report estimates that drug-resistant superbugs, which already kill 700,000 people a year, could claim as many as 10 million lives each year by the middle of the century. Just this week, researchers reported finding a “superbug” resistant to antibiotics of last resort in a Pennsylvania woman, suggesting that such untreatable bacteria may become prevalent in the U.S. The study’s authors, who were commissioned by the British government, make several proposals. They advise governments to set strict limits on the use of antibiotics in agriculture and to provide significant financial incentives for pharmaceutical companies to develop new antibiotics. They also recommend launching a global awareness campaign to increase understanding of antimicrobial resistance. “We need to inform in different ways, all over the world, why it’s crucial we stop treating our antibiotics like sweets,” study author Jim O’Neill tells BBC.com. “If we don’t solve the problem, we are heading to the dark ages, [and] we will have a lot of people dying.”

THE WEEK
June 10, 2016

Another book/story idea...

I started this post back in June while I was reading that book on Race and The Americanization of Louisiana. I was flabbergasted by the idea of kidnapping one's pesky, embarrassing relatives and shipping them off to The New World. One contributor - forgive my lack of reference - indicated that: "By 1719, deportation to Louisiana was considered a convenient way of getting rid of troublesome neighbors or family members " (p. 62)

I thought one might use that scenario as a basis for a pretty interesting story line.

Which of course makes me think about that recent article about there only being 6 different emotional arcs in story lines:

The six basic emotional arcs are these:

A steady, ongoing rise in emotional valence, as in a rags-to-riches story such as Alice’s Adventures Underground by Lewis Carroll. A steady ongoing fall in emotional valence, as in a tragedy such as Romeo and Juliet. A fall then a rise, such as the man-in-a-hole story, discussed by Vonnegut. A rise then a fall, such as the Greek myth of Icarus. Rise-fall-rise, such as Cinderella. Fall-rise-fall, such as Oedipus.

So, what story would we create? I imagine Anne Rice's Interview with the Vampire... Brad Pitt was pesky... and then I imagine a prostitute made good... I imagine these people being second sons of landed gentry... I imagine emptied prisons.... shall we pick a Jean Valjean character and a new story-line? Set with Jazz and oysters? I don't know... a creative individual could come up with something.

Recent Irish Immigrant buys real estate - Thomas L. Wright

Gosh, so pathetic.... I did this research a while ago, but never put anything into context. I remember being delighted while searching through the dusty tomes in the Troy City Hall or Recorder of Deeds or some such place - see, sad, I don't even know where I was. What a terrible researcher I am.

I know from directories of the time that he lived at 301 4th Street. Here is an image from Google maps of the house as it appeared when the Google car went through the neighborhood.



In book 139, page 497 I took the following notes:

Thomas and Jane Wright
sold for $1,700
West side of 4th Street between Adams and Jefferson
certain map of the south part of the city of Troy made by Jared S. Weed for the Warren Farm Company - 11.17.1847
as lot 67
25' wide
120' long



I see that Prospect Park was not given to the city of Troy until 1902, so should we assume that the Warren Farm Company owned that land where the Park currently exists? Was the Warren Farm Company also the Warren Family, as mentioned at the Prospect Park website?

Prospect Park is a city owned park centrally located within the City of Troy. One of three major parks in the City. The park consists of approximately 80 acres of land conveyed by the Warren Family to the City of Troy by deed dated December 23, 1902. Prospect Park opens each season in early April and remains open through early November.

I found an extensive biography of the Warren Family of Troy here. Obviously very well-to-do. They sound a bit like that other Oliver Lee mentioned in a previous post here.

What a time to live, eh? Obviously it was not easy, but don't these stories make it sound like it *was* easy to make a fortune?

More notes, though with less information...

Book 60, Page 129 (so isn't this an earlier purchase of property?)
Thomas Wright with
Francis M. Mann, John P. Cushman Jacob

(What could that mean? I think I may have looked those people up in the Troy directory and I *think* they were lawyers or some such, so maybe Thomas *did* hitch his wagon to other up and coming people in town.)

Book 111, page 165
Thomas L. Wright
West side of 4th street between Adams and Jefferson
Lot 67
boarded by an alley

What was I telling myself? My notes don't seem helpful, do they? Argh!

La Crepe Nanou - A little promotion of an adorable restaurant outside of the Quarter

I started this post ages ago, too. Like after dining there... So much for being on the ball. I bring it to you now.

We were delightfully surprised with the find at 1410 Robert Street in New Orleans. We will go back in a New York minute. I have absolutely no recollection of what I ate, but I was delighted. The atmosphere was charming and the service attentive.

La Crêpe Nanou is a romantic neighborhood
French Bistro and Crêperie established in 1983 and voted best French Bistro by New Orleans Magazine.
Our notable menu items include:
Crêpes (savory and sweet!), PEI Moules Frites,
Escargot and Local Whole Grilled Fish, Grilled Lamb Chops
Brunch Highlights: Crêpe Lorraine,
Omelette au Crabe, Croque Monsieur and Madame.
Additionally, we offer vegetarian, dairy-free and
gluten-free choices; as well as numerous Specials du Jour.

Just putting it out in the Universe about this bistro.

A Little Exploration in to Thomas L. Wright

My knowledge of the Civil War is significantly limited. Only as I research family does small snippets come into focus. I am Googling places and battles and maps as I am reading the discombobulated memoirs of Thomas L. Wright. I hadn't realized, for example, that he signed up almost immediately after the shelling of Fort Sumter. Thomas must have felt very strongly about it. The man was a recent immigrant from Northern Ireland. The man was middle aged! (No disrespect intended.) So what was it that he felt strongly about? Keeping the nation together? Or was he more about Civil Rights and the abolition of slavery? What motivated the man?

His memoirs are very discombobulated, but he writes:

From Washington we march on Monday to Brightwood in Md. There we encamped for three weeks. We received orders about 2 o’clock P.M. to march for Bulls run, when within a short distance of that place we met the retreating forces from that disastrous battle. They informed us that the Union forces had met with a serious defeat.  

I know that Thomas registered (is that the right word?) in April 1861. He was mustered in in June 1, 1861, in Troy, NY. Obviously, he made his way with the 30th NY Infantry to Washington, DC. How long did that take? I don't know where Brightwood, Maryland is... but there is a Brightwood neighborhood in DC. And then it seems to be about 13 hours of continuous marching to get to Bull Run, VA.

So, time in upstate NY with his new regiment. A week? That brings us to June 8th or something. Marching to Washington? Wagons? Trains? Trains, probably. (Maybe there will be a clue if I just keep reading.) So, in Washington by the 15th of June? At which point he marches to Brightwood and trains for 3 weeks... That chronology brings us to the first week in July, which makes sense. I wonder why it was important enough to him to mention that orders came at 2 pm? Does that mean they marched through the night?

I took this blurb from here, the website for the Civil War Trust.

Though the Civil War began when Confederate troops shelled Fort Sumter on April 12, 1861, the war didn’t begin in earnest until the Battle of Bull Run, fought in Virginia just miles from Washington DC, on July 21, 1861. Popular fervor led President Lincoln to push a cautious Brigadier General Irvin McDowell, commander of the Union army in Northern Virginia, to attack the Confederate forces commanded by Brigadier General P.G.T. Beauregard, which held a relatively strong position along Bull Run, just northeast of Manassas Junction. The goal was to make quick work of the bulk of the Confederate army, open the way to Richmond, the Confederate capital, and end the war.

The morning of July 21st dawned on two generals planning to outflank their opponent’s left. Hindering the success of the Confederate plan were several communication failures and general lack of coordination between units. McDowell’s forces, on the other had, were hampered by an overly complicated plan that required complex synchronization. Constant and repeated delays on the march and effective scouting by the Confederates gave his movements away, and, worst of all Patterson failed to occupy Johnston’s Confederate forces attention in the west. McDowell’s forces began by shelling the Confederates across Bull Run. Others crossed at Sudley Ford and slowly made their way to attack the Confederate left flank. At the same time as Beauregard sent small detachments to handle what he thought was only a distraction, he also sent a larger contingent to execute flanking a flanking movement of his own on the Union left.

Spectators at Bull RunFighting raged throughout the day as Confederate forces were driven back, despite impressive efforts by Colonel Thomas Jackson to hold important high ground at Henry House Hill, earning him the nom de guerre “Stonewall.” Late in the afternoon, Confederate reinforcements including those arriving by rail from the Shenandoah Valley extended the Confederate line and succeeded in breaking the Union right flank. At the battle’s climax Virginia cavalry under Colonel James Ewell Brown “Jeb” Stuart arrived on the field and charged into a confused mass of New Yorkers, sending them fleetly to the rear. The Federal retreat rapidly deteriorated as narrow bridges, overturned wagons, and heavy artillery fire added to the confusion. The calamitous retreat was further impeded by the hordes of fleeing onlookers who had come down from Washington to enjoy the spectacle. Although victorious, Confederate forces were too disorganized to pursue. By July 22, the shattered Union army reached the safety of Washington. The Battle of Bull Run convinced the Lincoln administration and the North that the Civil War would be a long and costly affair. McDowell was relieved of command of the Union army and replaced by Maj. Gen. George B. McClellan, who set about reorganizing and training the troops.

I guess we know that the 30th NY Regiment was not the New Yorkers mentioned above.... And the safety of Washington, is that Arlington Heghts, mentioned by Thomas?